No Sweat
No Sweat is a British television children's comedy show that went to air on CBBC in the late 1990s. The show followed the exploits of struggling boy band, North & South, consisting of Jimmy (played by James Hurst), Greg (played by Lee Otter), Miles (played by Tom Lowe) and Giles (played by Sam Chapman), who were a band in real life, scoring four United Kingdom Top 40 hits between 1997 and 1998 including a #7 debut single "I'm A Man Not A Boy" in May 1997. Beginnings The band was formed by pop music manager Tom Watkins, whose previous artists included Pet Shop Boys, 2wo Third3, Bros, and East 17. Tom, Lee, and Sam responded to adverts published on Teletext, and guitarist James joined later following a chance meeting with Sam. Mark Read of boyband A1 was originally going to be in the band but later dropped out due to being unsure of the route it was going to take. After being chosen on their musical ability, the band were put through a series of screen tests by Initial Television for the show. After these, they began recording their debut album and filming the first series of the show in Brighton in early 1997. Series 1 Hurst played Jimmy Osman (a name dangerously similar to Jimmy Osmond), a green-haired lad who arrives in Brighton having left his previous school after an incident that involved his teacher, a concrete mixer and a lorry-load of Cadbury's Flake. Osman enrols at Peabody School and makes friends with Greg Fuddle, a hapless but genial youngster. He also encounters the local bully, Janis, a diminutive girl with a mean streak, and her gormless sidekick Carly. The girls terrorise Jimmy and Greg, who, as a consequence, have to expend much energy dodging them. Jimmy convinces Greg that they should form a rock band and so become overnight millionaires with fast cars and access to pretty young women. Greg falls in with the plan and the two then try to recruit a pair of beautiful but stuck-up girls from rival St Ethelburga's School - Jassy (played by Scarlett Strallen, the niece of singer/actress Bonnie Langford) and Lucy - to sing with the band. While they struggle to persuade the girls, two posh St Ethelburga boys, Miles and Giles, form their own group Doctor B, in direct competition to North And South. No Sweat, a serial comedy, followed the struggles of Jimmy and Greg to overcome their friendly rivals, escape the clutches of Janis and Carly (and lesser bullies Belcher and Greebo) and achieve fame and fortune. Further complications came from Jimmy's overbearing mother, Bev, who, although supportive of the band, was adamant that her son should have nothing to do with the girls. Series 1 (plot) The first series in 1997 was set in Brighton and centred on James Hurst's character, Jimmy Osman, who had just moved into the area with his kind, but overbearing mother, Beverley (played by Harriet Thorpe). Beverley was obsessed with entering competitions, once purchasing multiple cans of dog food despite not having a dog. After making friends with Greg Fuggle at the Peasbody school, and getting past the school bullies Janis (Gemma McCluskie) & Carly (Jessica Meyer), they decided to form a band as a way of getting girls and cash - fast. They initially try to persuade Giles Beamish & Miles Smith-Jones from rival school St Ethelburga's to join this band, and, though reluctant at first, they eventually joined and named themselves North & South. Midway through the first series, the debut single, "I'm A Man Not A Boy" was released, and reached #7 in the UK Singles Chart, ending that year as the 72nd biggest selling single with 102,300 copies sold. It fared even better in Malaysia, reaching #2. In August 1997, after the series ended, they released their second single, "Tarantino's New Star", which was anticipated to repeat the success of its predecessor. However, despite a lot of promotion, it only reached #18 and disappeared from the UK chart within weeks. Despite this, they went on a sell out tour of the UK in October. The show's theme song, "No Sweat", was also released as a single, and was also used as the theme song for the European version of the PlayStation video game Tombi!. After the tour, third single "Breathing" was released in November, and again, well promoted, but it only scraped in at #27, leaving the charts faster than its predecessor. Things were not looking good for the band, despite a second series of No Sweat being filmed and an album out the following year. Series 2 By the second series things had moved on, with the school area left far behind and the boys in the band reverting to their own names, and labouring for dodgy manager Mickey Freeman, a throwback to the days of glam. The storylines themselves got ever more fantastical. External Links * No Sweat on BBC Comedy * No Sweat episode 1 on YouTube Category:CBBC shows Category:Past Shows Category:Forgotten shows Category:1990s shows‏‎